Shirt package and method of making



May 12, 1970- I J. N. AIRDO 3,511,354

SHIRT PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed Jan. 15,- 196 8 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 xfave /kfih/do BVDWMMW May 12, 1970 J. N. AIRDO ,511

' SHIRT PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed Jan. 15, 1968 3 sheets-sheet 2 J. N. AIRDO SHIRT PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING May 12, 1970 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 15, 1968 United States Patent 3,511,364 SHIRT PACKAGE AND METHOD OF MAKING Joseph N. Airdo, Skokie, Ill., assignor to Bishop Freeman Co., a corporation of Illinois Filed Jan. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 697,993 Int. Cl. B65d 85/18 US. Cl. 20646 13 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Described herein is a method for folding a shirt or like garment, a shirt board and a shirt or like object assembled with a shirt board. The shirt is folded around the shirt board into a shirt package. The shirt board has a tail tuck segment that is folded with the tail of a shirt downwardly between the back of the shirt top and the upwardly folded lower portion of the shirt, the shirt tail being secured in that position by the shirt board and without pinning.

BACKGROUND In the manufacture of shirts for sale to the retail trade, they are folded into a package which is substantially more compact than the fully extended shirt. Once folded, it is desirable to secure the folded assembly against unfolding and to maintain its folded integrity.

Machines and methods for folding shirts are known in the art. US. Pat. No. 3,013,704 illustrates such a device and method. In such methods the sleeves and shirt sides are folded inwardly, the lower portion of the shirt is folded upwardly (both with respect to the central upper portion of the shirt), the shirt tail extremity is folded under the folded tail is pinned to the shoulders of the upper shirt portion. This pinning is a tedious and time consuming step which is considered by many to be necessary to the formation of a shirt package having suitable integrity for further handling, both at the manufacturing plant and at the retail level.

The method and means of this invention make is possible to eliminate tail pinning while providing a shirt assembly or package of suitable integrity. This invention permits that thereby eliminating a time-consuming and tedious operation heretofore widely used.

Utilization of the shirt board and shirt folding method of this invention speeds the shirt folding procedure, simplifies it and provides a shirt package neat in appearance and of a desirable strength.

In accordance with this invention a shirt board having a main body segment and a tail tuck segment hingedly secured to the main body segment is provided. The main body segment is substantially the width of the shirt package to be formed and is of a length sufiicient to cooperate with a shirt to receive and retain the tail tuck segment when infolded with a shirt tail. The main body segment of the shirt board may serve as a form about which the shirt is folded, the sleeves and shirt sides being folded inwardly against the sides of the main body segment, the sides being pinned in the upper regions thereof to hold them in position, the lower portion of the shirt being u-pfolded with the tail thereof overlying the tail tuck segment of the shirt board. The tail and tail tuck segment are then inturned downwardly between the main 3,511,364 Patented May 12, 1970 ICC use in accordance with-the method of this invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the shirt folding device of FIG. 1 with a shirt placed thereon;

FIG. 3 illustrates the device and shirt of FIG. 2 with a shirt blade juxtaposed with the shirt in folding position;

FIG. 4 is similar to FIG. 3 and further illustrates a juxtaposed shirt board of this invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates folding of the sleeves of the shirt and is otherwise similar to FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 illustrates infolding of the sides of a shirt and is otherwise similar to FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 illustrates upward folding of the lower portion of a shirt and is otherwise similar to FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 illustrates tucking of the tail of a shirt and is otherwise similar to FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a shirt folded in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 10 is a shirt board of this invention as illustrated in FIG. 2; 1

FIG. 11 is a further shirt board of this invention;

FIG. 12 is a view similar to FIG. 2 with the shirt board of FIG. 11 positioned for interfolding with a shirt;

FIG. 13 is a view similar to FIG. 6, but with the shirt board of FIG. 11; and

FIG. 14 is a view similar to FIG. 9 but with the shirt board of FIG. 11.

Referring first to FIG. 10, a shirt board 10 of this invention of a material having suitable rigidity, such as of cardboard, is seen to include a main body segment 12 and a tail tuck segment 14. They are integrally conne'cted along a hinge line 16 which preferably is partially scored or partially perforated to assure ready and easy folding of the tail segment therealong and with respect to body segment 12. For purposes to be explained, the side edges 17 of the body segment may be notched as at 18 and the bottom edge 20 is provided with a notch or locator means 22. Also, the side edges 24 of tail segment 14 may be tapered for a purpose to'be described.

A further shirt board 10 of this invention is illustrated in FIG. 11. It comprises a main body segment 12' hingedly connected to a tail tuck segment 14' along a hinge line 16' which may be partially scored or perforated to facilitate easy and ready folding of the tail segment therealong and with respect to body segment 12'. Body segment 12 is seen to include a lower portion 12A and an upper portion 12B. Lower portion 12A is hingedly secured to upper portion 12B along a score line 26 like hinge line 16 so that portions 12A and 12B are readily and easily folded therealong.

Referring now to lower portion 12A it is seen to have side edges 17' and a bottom edge which is coincident with score line 26. Side edges 17' may be notched like side edges 17 shown in FIG. 10, that being illustrated in phantom at 18' in FIG. 11. Further lower portion 12A may define a locator means or notch 22' at its bottom edge. Notch 22 may have a complementary portion in portion 12B.

Continuations of side edges 17 of lower portion 12A also define the sides of upper portion 12B. Portion 12B may also define side notches 28 which are substantially coincident with notches 18 when portions 12A and 12B are folded over each other. The free end of portion 12B is provided with an integral collar tab 29 connected thereto along a line 30 which may partially scored or perforated in the manner of lines 26 and 16. The edge 32 of portion 12B adjacent collar tab 29 is cut to define sloping segments 34 which slope downward toward side edges 17 and upwardly to merge into line 30, the sloping segments, as will be seen, corresponding generally to the slope of the shoulders of a shirt with which shirt board 10' is to be used.

FIG. 1 illustrates a shirt folding assembly which may be used to assist in interfolding a shirt with a shirt board of this invention, all in accordance with this invention. It is to be understood that when the term shirt is used herein, it is intended to include shirts and other garments which are adapted to be folded like shirts, such as, for example, pajama tops. The shirt folding assembly 40 is seen to include a table 42, a table top 44, a shirt blade 46 hingedly connected to table 42 via hinge 48, the shirt blade being movable about hinge 48 by a mechanism 50 (shown schematically only) from a retracted position (FIG. 1) to a shirt folding position (FIG. 3). Certain aspects of a shirt folding assembly to the extent described here are referred to in greater detail in US. Pat. No. 3,013,704.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1 a shirt folding assembly may include a collar mold 52 which may be as illustrated and described in said patent, 3,013,704, the specific details thereof forming no part of the instant invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates a shirt folding assembly suitable and ready for use in accordance with the method of this invention. As seen in FIG. 2 a shirt S to be folded and packaged is spread upon table top 44, the collar thereof being positioned in and held by collar mold 52, the clamping portions of mold 52 being expanded in a known manner to hold the collar in place. The operator straightens the shirt, aligning the buttoning strip and smoothing the shoulders and tail until it assumes the position illustrated in FIG. 2. Thereafter shirt blade 46 is brought downwardly over the collar and the central upper region of the shirt body and shoulders to provide a form upon and against which to work. Blade 46 is seen to include a release notch 54 to facilitate removal of the shirt when the folding operation is complete.

As seen in FIG. 4 after blade 46 is positioned as in FIG. 3, a shirt board 10 is placed thereon and is located by aligning release notch 54 and the locator means or notch 22 of shirt board 10 in a predetermined relationship. Although a representative embodiment of this invention is described herein in conjunction with the use of' a shirt blade, it will be understood that the superposed shirt board 10 may be positioned directly against the shirt and used as the form against which the shirt is folded.

The shirt sleeves are then folded as illustrated in FIG. 5 (although they may be previously folded) and the side portions of the shirt are folded tightly inwardly against the side edges of shirt blade 46 and the coincident side edges 17 of shirt board 10. To hold the sides tightly in position as illustrated in FIG. 6 a securing means, such as a pin P (enlarged for purposes of illustration) is applied in the shoulder region to hold the shoulder regions together and to hold the upper shirt sides tightly against the shirt blade and board.

Thereafter, the lower portion L of shirt S is folded upwardly from the position of FIG. 6 to the position shown in FIG. 7 and is pulled firmly against the bottom edge 58 of blade 46 (and in this embodiment as illustrated the coincident bottom edge 20 of board 10). It is to be observed that the tail T then overlies tail tuck segment 14 and the transverse tail tuck segment edge 60. Optionally, it may be desirable to utilize a temporary holding clamp 56 at this point, as illustrated in FIG. 7, to hold the shirt firmly in the position there shown. Such a clamp may be pivotally secured to the folding table 42 to be brought from an inactive position to the operative position of FIG. 7 at the proper point in time.

At this point (absent the use of the shirt board and method of this invention) the usual procedure is to fold a segment of the shirt tail under and against the adjacent lower portion of the shirt and the fold is then pinned (usually via two pins) to the shoulder region of the upper portion of a shirt. Such pinning is done manually, hence is time consuming and undesirable. In the practice of this invention such pinning is made unnecessary and is thus avoided.

In accordance with this invention, as best seen in FIGS. -8 and 9, the tail T of the shirt and the tail tuck segment are folded inwardly together. In the particular method illustrated by FIGS. .8 and 9, the tail T as seen in FIG. 7 is firmly draped over and around the transverse tail segment edge 60 of tail segment 14 and the thusly interfolded segment and tail are tucked downwardly against blade 46 between the lower L and upper U portions of shirt S (FIG. 8) to the position shown in section in FIG. 9. To facilitate the tucking of the tail, shirt blade 46 is preferably a polished material or otherwise made smooth and of minimum frictional resistance such as polished stainless steel.

Thus the lower extremity of tail T is positioned between tail tuck segment 14 and the confronting portion of body segment 12 of shirt board 10, and the adjoining portion of the tail T is positioned between tail segment 14 and the upper central shoulder region of the shirt upper portion. To facilitate the infolding, side edges 24 of the tail segment 14 may slope somewhat is shown in FIG. 10. It may also be desirable during the folding procedure to reduce the width of the lower portion of the shirt (or to taper same inwardly slightly) as seen in FIG. 6 to facilitate tucking and folding as described above in conjunction with FIGS. 7-9. If that is done, then the tail portion to be folded will not be quite the full width of tail segment 14 and it will be somewhat more convenient to tuck interfolded tail T and tail segment 14 inwardly and downwardly.

It is to be observed that the upper central shoulder region of the shirt and the side shoulder and associated pinned upper sleeve portions of the shirt with the main body segment 12 tend to define a pocket into which the shirt tail and tail segment are folded. Because the tail segment is substantially the full width of the folded shirt assembly, once it is inserted into the pocket it is difliculty removable because the short front and board tend to clampingly engage it. In the illustrated embodiment the side edges 24 of tail segment 14 are closely adjacent the side edge of the folded shirt assembly, this enhancing the retention of the tail in its interfolded assembled relationship.

When the shirt and shirt board are so assembled, it is unnecessary (as it has been in the past) to utilize pins at the shoulders to maintain the shirt tail in position thereby to maintain the integrity of the shirt package during handling and final packaging.

When a shirt board embodying notches 18 is used it will be apparent that the overlying and underlying portions of the shirt will have a sof feel, a sometimes desirable attribute at the retail sales level.

Referring now to FIG. 9, the shirt assembly or package produced in accordance with this invention includes the collar C, the upper portion U of the shirt, the lower portion L thereof, and shirt board 10. Main body segment 12 of shirt board 12 lies between the upper U and lower L portions of the shirt (as described hereinbefore), now the front and back, and the tail segment 14 is disposed between main body segment 12 and the upper portion U of the shirt. In the embodiment illustrated the lower extremity of the shirt tail is also positioned between the main body and tail segments of the shirt board to enhance the retentiveness of the assembly for the shirt tail by clampingly engaging the lower extremity of tail T therebetween.

The method of this invention may also be carried out with a shirt board configured as in FIG. 11. The manipulative steps may parallel those as previously described.

FIG. 12 illustrates shirt board 10 suitably positioned on a properly laid out shirt with collar tab 29 inserted into the collar C of shirt S. The shirt blade is then brought down against upper portion 12B of the shirt board. The sleeves and sides are then folded inwardly in the manner previously described to assume the position illustrated in FIG. 13. Thereafter lower portion 12B and lower shirt portion L are folded upwardly (as in FIG. 7) and the shirt tail T and tail tuck segment 14' are infolded in the manner previously described with respect to FIGS. 7-9.

A finished shirt package utilizing shirt board 10" is illustrated in FIG. 14. There collar C is shown to have the inserted collar tab 29. The lower portion L of shirt S is folded over upper portion U. Shirt board 10 is interfoldcd therewith, the upper portion 12B lying against upper shirt portion U and the lower portion 12A being adjacent lower shirt portion L. Shirt board portions 12A and 12B confront each other, together defining with the shirt a pocket for receiving tail T and tail segment 14'. The shirt tail is foldingly draped over the edge 60' of the tail segment and the extremity of the shirt tail is positioned between tail segment 14 and lower portion 12B. Such a shirt package is quite rigid and strong and retains the shirt tail tightly in position. It does utilize substantially more board material than the shirt package incorporating shirt board 10, and shirt board 10 may, for that reason, be preferable to shirt board 10.

The method illustrated herein shows the shirt sleeves being folded after the shirt board is placed in position. It is apparent that the sleeves may be first folded and the board then positioned. Other variants of the embodiments of the invention illustrated herein will also become apparent from the foregoing description and drawings, those embodiments shown and described herein being illustrative only.

What is claimed is:

1. In a shirt package in which a shirt is in a folded relationship with a shirt board, said shirt board comprising a body segment and a hingedly connected tail tuck segment, said shirt having its sides folded inwardly and its lower body portion folded upwardly with respect to its upper body portion, the central shoulder portion and the inwardly folded outer shoulder portions of said shirt defining a pocket, the tail of said shirt being drapped over said tail tuck segment, said shirt tail and said tail tuck segment being tucked downwardly into said pocket between said lower body portion and said central shoulder portion.

2. In the shirt package of claim 1 in which a portion of the tail of said shirt is positioned between said tail tuck segment and said body segment.

3. In the shirt package of claim 1 in which said body segment comprises two hingedly connected sections, one of which is positioned against the upper portion of said shirt and the other of which is connected to said tail tuck segment.

4. A shirt package comprising a shirt board and a shirt, said shirt board having a main body segment and a hingedly connected tail tuck segment, the side portions of said shirt being folded inwardly against said shirt board main body segment and the lower body portion of said shirt being folded upwardly against the lower edge of said main body segment, the lower tail portion of said shirt being folded over and around said tail tuck segment and being tucked inwardly and downwardly with said tail tuck segment in a pocket defined between said side portions of said shirt and the upper body portion of said shirt.

5. In a shirt package having a shirt interfoldcd with a shirt board, the shirt board having a main body segment, a tail tuck segment hingedly connected to said main body segment and extending substantially the full width of said main body segment, said shirt having its sides folded inwardly across said main body segment and said sides being secured to each other in their uppermost region whereby said shirt tautly surrounds said main body segment in the uppermost regions of the shirt, the lower portion of said shirt being folded upwardly behind the upper portion of said shirt and having its tail portion in wrapped engagement with said tail tuck segment, said tail portion and said tail tuch segment being positioned inwardly and downwardly between the upper portion of siad shirt and the main body segment of said shirt board.

6. In a method of forming a shirt package, the steps comprising laying the shirt out flat with its front facing downwardly, positioning a shirt board over at least the upper central back portion of the shirt, folding the sides of the shirt inwardly over the shirt board and until they overlap, folding the lower portion of the shirt upwardly over the shirt board, and tucking the tail of the shirt with a portion of said shirt board inwardly and downwardly between the upper central portion of said shirt and the folded sides of said shirt to releasably lock said shirt tail therebetween.

7. In the method of claim 6 further characterized by the step of securing the upper regions of the overlapped shirt sides to each other prior to tucking.

8. In the method of claim 7 in which the step of securing is accomplished by pinning the shoulder regions of said shirt sides to each other.

9. In a method of assembling a shirt package including a shirt and a shirt board, said shirt board comprising a main body segment and a hingedly connected tail tuck segment, the steps comprising laying a shirt body out fiat, positioning a shirt board over the central upper region of said shirt, folding the shirt sides inwardly against the sides of said shirt board, folding the lower portion of said shirt upwardly against the lower edge of said shirt board, draping the tail of said shirt over and around the edge of the tail tuck segment and folding said tail and tail tuck segment downwardly between said main body segment and the central upper region of said shirt body to lock said shirt tail in position.

10. In a method of forming a shirt package including a shirt and a shirt board, said shirt board having a main body section and an integral hinged tail tuck section, the steps comprising laying a shirt body out fiat, folding the sides of a shirt inwardly across the back of the shirt and over the main body section of said shirt board, folding the lower portion of said shirt over the main body section of said shirt board and over and around the free edge of said tail tuck section and folding said tail tuck section and the folded shirt tail about the hinge line of said shirt board to position said tail tuck seciton and said tail between the upper central portion and sides of said shirt to clampingly lock said shirt tail in position.

11. In a shirt package in which a shirt is folded upon itself, an improved shirt board, said shirt board comprising a main body segment and a hingedly connected tail tuck segment, said main body segment being interfolded with said shirt and said tail tuck segment being wrapped in relationship with the tail of said shirt and being positioned between said main body segment and the upper central front portion of said shirt.

12. In the shirt package of claim 11 in which the shirt board extends substantially the full length of the shirt and said main body segment is foldable into two sections intermediate its length, the first of said sections 2,652,146 9/1953 Lighter. terminating adjacent the collar of said shirt and the 2,753,989 7/1956 Golden. other terminating adjacent the tail of said shirt.

13. In the shirt package of claim 12 in which the FOREIGN PATENTS first of said sections includes a collar tab insertable into 5 1,508835 11/1967 France the collar of said shirt.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS US. Cl. X.R.

1,716,682 6/1929 Bridges. 10 53-3; 206-7; 223 71 2,620,950 12/1952 Jacobson.

MARTHA L. RICE, Primary Examiner 

